Exodus 29:7 - Exposition

The Chrism or Anointing .

The anointing oil had been mentioned previously in Exodus 25:6 , when "spices" had been required from the congregation to form a portion of it. Its composition is given in Exodus 30:23-25 ; a passage from which we gather that it was exceedingly rich and costly. And pour it upon his head. Compare Psalms 133:2 . While ablution is a rite common to many religions, the religious use of unction is peculiar to the Mosaic and the Christian. In the Mosaic it was applied to initiate into their office the prophet, the priest, and the king. In Christianity it was originally a rite by which sick persons were miraculously cured ( James 5:14 , James 5:15 ), from which use it was afterwards extended by ecclesiastical authority to other important ceremonies. The typical meaning under Christianity is clear; the oil represents the Holy Spirit, and the anointing the outpouring of that Spirit on those who are the objects of it. Christ himself obtained his title of Christ (or Messiah), because he was "anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power" ( Acts 10:38 ). Under Mosaism this idea was, at most, latent. Unction was understood to mark